Besides imprisonment and torture the further repercussions on her life could be severe! Manal is a professional woman, with a good job and a good salary. She is divorced and has a son. She is risking everything for the right to drive for herself and her fellow Saudi women.

So what are the official clerical reasons for this absurd gender based ban disabling women to drive their own cars and forcing them to be in Khalwa with unrelated foreign men?

removal of hijab (face veil)

loss of modesty in women

women leaving their homes, driving around because they enjoy driving

women rebelling, they may go out of the house and drive to place where they can find peace. As young men do, but young men are able to put up with more than women.

driving is a cause for fitnah, immoral men will take advantage of her when she is in need of help

When women drive it leads to overcrowding in the streets, or it deprives some young men of the opportunity to drive cars when they are more deserving of that.

it will cause the fitnah to flourish, because women will buy a new car because it’s a new model or because they will be the first one to drive it.

Women are too emotional to drive cars or deal with any problems they might encounter.
Also, women’s hearts are too weak to survive the stress of driving a car.

They are all hilarious, especially the weak heart.

Women driving will deprive some young men of the opportunity to drive cars when they are more deserving of that.
Why?
Why would young men have more right to driving a car than a woman? Where does that come from? I’d say the person who really needs the car for something useful is the more ”deserving”.

And last but not least:
Women will buy a new car because it’s a new model or because they will be the first one to drive it.
Let’s have a look at the cars Saudi men buy:

Sorry but ”cars” are really more of a man-thing. Now there may be the odd woman here and there who will go further to get something flashy, but I don’t think the majority of women will outdo the majority of men in the utter bad taste demonstrated above.

So what are we looking at? Well, the first drawing shows the evolution of Homo Sapiens, personified by the Arab woman. The second drawing shows the evolution of Homo Neanderthalensis, personified by what could either be a religious policeman, or a Wahhabi, or a salafi. There’s really not much difference.

We start of with Australopithecus, and after a couple of million years, or the fourth figure, we have come to Homo Erectus, capable of making tools, some more million years later, at the fifth figure, we have reached our current height of evolution; Homo Sapiens.
You can see the woman has discovered agriculture, she’s making cloth and embellishing her dress, she has invented pottery and many other things. At the corresponding fifth little Neanderthal figure, you can see she has taught him to walk upright, to wear clothes and to brush his teeth using a stick of mishwak.
Now what happened after the fifth figures? Well, about 1400 years ago the Homo Neanderthalenses took control, they started suppressing women, locking them up, even when outside, inventing a black cloth prison, denying them freedom and personality, and as you can see evolution ground to a halt. They kept brushing their teeth with mishwak. While Homo Sapiens women are slowly suffocated into ghosts, the Homo Neanderthalensis remain the same. For many more millennia.
For ever. Without women they are not capable of further development.

I’m of Dutch origin, but I moved from Holland at a young age with my parents. I monitor what goes on in Holland and how my country of origin has changed, not least with the rise of Geert Wilders and the so called “Islam debate” (strange to have a debate with only one side of the argument, but there you go, lol). What you write about Islam, conforms exactly 100% to the estabished cultural and historic conditioning of the society I come from.I wish people would take the trouble to actually read my blog…
Our values, tastes, language, worldview around us are given to us and formed by the society we grow up in, but because I moved countries at a young age I guess maybe I have not been as thoroughly conditioned by the society around me and this has actually given me more freedom away from conditioned world views. I would argue true freedom and independence of thought comes from being able to break away from the conditioned worldview that our born society gives us (and EVERY society conditions or tries to condition its individuals to believe in it’s own values … take Nazi Germany or Communist Russia for example, but Dutch society is no different, and that is the scary bit!)If you think that the current Dutch society is anything like the Nazi Germany or communist Russia, you need some serious counseling. Not to mention history lessons, and maybe a visit to the country itself would be helpful…

Due to my background and the increased fear of Islam in Dutch media and society in general, I became curious and wanted to understand more about Islam,Yep that’s how I started out too, combined with the news item that in Saudi Arabia a girl was being punished for being raped with torture and prison….
and why I felt I was being conditioned to hate an fear Islam by my surroundings, while I really knew next to nothing about it and religious Muslims were like a closed book to me.I wouldn’t call it conditioning, especially as the stuff I read in the media about Islam was very contradictory, definitely different sides get their say here. So in my case I wanted to know which side was right.
So I set myself a task, because I do not like “mysteries” and Islam was a big mystery to me, so I wanted to solve this mystery once and for all. I had no interest in looking at the Quran or Islam to merely to verify preconceived opinions, that’s easy to do… no I wanted to choose that which was hard, not that which is easy to do.Don’t quite understand what Alex is talking about here, it’s quite easy to get a few books and read them. And I don’t see the mistery. Besides, going online I got a lot more information and met some very nice people.And some very nasty ones.
But they all helped me to learn and make up my mind.

I have succeeded in this, after some effort, including learning to read Arabic.I have been told from reliable sources, including some native Arabic speaking persons, that there is nothing in the quran and hadith which cannot be translated perfectely well, so I did not bother to spend a few years learning a difficult language in it’s classical form.
I now know exactly if, why and when a person like Geert Wilders is lyingHe is a politician
I also realise that most ordinary people, do not realise when he is lying on purpose or when things are said about Islam which are based simply on ignorance, willful or not,He is a politician
but I am very glad I took the effort to solve the big mystery of Islam.Again, which mystery?You just wanted it to be mysterious didn’t you?
Maybe there is a detective in me, but it has certainly changed and altered many views I felt I had previously, and I felt where my own… when in fact they are a product of my upbringing and the societies I partially grew up in.Same here. You can actually follow on my blog how I made up my views by learning and understanding more. But you didn’t read the blog.

I think the success I have had in understanding the world of religious orthodox Muslims, as well as a Western mindset, is maybe also party due to my background and the fact that I moved countries early in my life.I’m just open minded by nature and very flexible.
I think maybe this has a big effect, not least that it can facilitate a person to break free from societal and cultural conditioning much easier than if I had only grew up in one society.

I can see from your writing you are very convinced about your understanding and beliefs particularly regarding Islam,Yes I am, as well as on all other religions.
maybe I can make you curious enough about myself and my aquired understanding of Islam, despite not having any sort of Muslim background or contact with born Muslims at all.No need, thank you, your letter explains a lot about you and your views. I think I know enough.

I am now a white Dutch Muslim, I converted to Islam after study. I guess perversely it was due to Geert Wilders and media attention towards Islam, that make me interested. It forced my attention towards Islam. It seems it was/is not my destiny to follow the path of blind agreement with people like Wilders that most ethnic Dutch people are intent on following or at least passively accepting as being normal and truthful.I have to disagree with you. As a Dutch person I know that most Dutch do not follow people like Wilders, The Dutch are extremely tolerant and open to different cultures. I think I have not been in any other country which so heartily welcomes different cultures and is truly interested in them. Also I think the Netherlands is quite unique in it’s many ages of welcoming refugees both political and religious from other countries.

I think the ones who do ”follow Wilders” have mostly been inspired the the actions of Muslims at home and abroad to side with Wilders. It is also unfortunate that he is at the moment the only Dutch politician who seems to be aware of the problems relating to Islam and Mulsims so there isn’t much choice here.

It is a real pity that a Muslim assassin shot the far more reasonable Pim Fortuyn in cold blood in a cowardly ambush. He would have been a far better choice of politician to follow for those who are worried about Islam encroaching on our Dutch values of freedom and liberty and women’s rights.
So I am afraid that, again, Muslims have themselves to thank for getting a politician like Gert Wilders instead.

Wilders has the highest votes in the polls in my country and I worry about Muslims in Holland.Not here, otherwise he would be prime minister, this is a misrepresentation of facts.
People seem to be prepared to follow Wilders blindly and unquestioningly because his ideas are made fair seeming to them, or because there are particular reasons for them to blindly accept what he says, due to Moroccan criminality and basically not wanting non-white people in their neighbourhoods, amongst others.I wouldn’t discard the cowardly murders of people like Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh by Muslims. And combine that with terrorist attacks in the name of Islam, heinous crimes committed against women in the name of Islam, etc etc. Don’t you think that those little details might have something to do with what people think?
Also, and most importantly people accept Wilders ideas without thinking because I now realise that those ideas conform to established cultural and historical conditioning of the society both you and I are born into.No they don’t, and no they don’t.And stop acting as if we are buddies, we don’t even know one another.
Our Dutch society is not a society of fixed values, but fluid and radically shifting values, which are controlled or at least guided and led by those with power over media and politics, and real power in our society lies in big capital and economic control, NOT in the ballot box or parliament. We live and are conditioned in a corporate controlled environment, there is no escaping this.That would be America. Not the Netherlands. Clearly you have been away for too long to have a proper understanding about how politics in the Netherlands work. The established and cultural conditioning in the Netherlands is to have lots respect for people from different cultures and religions and I agree with you we need to change that a bit and keep a firmer grip on, and have a lot more respect for, our own culture of openness and freedom and equal rights. Especially when it clashes with those who would destroy those ideals.

It’s international women’s day again and I would like to remind all women, especially in the west, that the struggle for freedom and equality of women is not over.
Worse: the freedom our ancestors fought for is still being undermined. Women are too complacent, abuse, suppression and enslavement of women is still practised worldwide. Women are being beaten raped and sold all over the world, be it in the guise of the ”marriage” of a ten year old girls to pedophile who could be their grandfathers, (after suitable payment) or as the trafficking of young women who are then forced into prostitution.

If we take a look at the planet we see inequality and abuse everywhere. Women are not weak, women are not stupid, women are not inferior to men.

Last night, for the first time, a woman got an Oscar for directing a movie.

My selection of rolemodels for this year:

Emily Pankhurst sufragette who fought for the right of women to vote!

Marie Curie, one of the great scientists of all time

Mother, queen and warrior, Boudicca, who kicked the Roman’s asses when they were invincible

Saraounia, her African counterpart: she kicked the Frenches’ asses in Africa in the nineteenth century.

Nujood Ali, was sold into sexual slavery marriage at nine years young and beaten and raped daily until she managed to free herself by divorce at the age of 10

There are so many female role models that i have decided to place a selection every yesr from now on.
Meanwhile, those of you with daughters, I suggest you teach your daughters what women really are, despite the lies told to us by misogynist cultures and religions. A selection of suitable rolemodels for girls in fiction and literature:

Pippi Longstocking (books by Astrid Lindgren) a girl who has taken the virtue of disobedience for girls into a high art

Ororo, or Storm, defenitely one of the coolest X-men, and one of the best leaders they ever had.

Xena, tv-series, always kicks everybody’s ass no matter what God or great warlord they are!

Ripley, (movie: Alien) still ready to kick Alien’s asses after all the tough men in the movie have been killed or put out of action. Saving Newt, who managed to survive while everybody else perished.

You see, if girls grow up with the right education, the right literature, and movies, they will hopefully grow up to become the generation of women who will be truly able to celebrate women’s day.
Who will be proud of being women, instead of feeling an unnatural and articficial sense of inferiority and shame.
Because it is not true that women are inferior to men, men are in no way more intelligent or more reasonable than women. It is unfair to burden women with a feeling of shame for their bodies and their sexuality.
And any ”tradition”, any ”religion” which tries to tell us differently, is wrong! Any tradition or custom or religion which restricts women, which wants to annul them into non-entities is wrong, is lying to you, to us all. Any custom, traditin or religion which transforms the bonding of men and women in love and support and mutual respect into a bond between master and slave, between prostitute and paymaster, is wrong, is evil!
The selling of very young girls to pedophiles, against their will, maybe condoned by custom or religion, but that doesn’t make it less disgusting and evil!. I read today in a comment on Achelois that ”In return for the wife’s obedience, which includes her making herself available to him for his pleasure, the husband is required to spend on her and provide for her.” The pure essence of prostitution: One person pays up, and the other person has to provide sexual services.
Marriage should be a partnership, a bond of love trust and companionship. Not a master-slave, master-prostitute relationship. And any culture, tradition or religion which transforms marriage into slavery and prostitution is wrong!

These in-equalities are constructs. Modern constructs, because they are only a couple of thousand years old at best.

There are older cultures, older religions, older customs, which venerate women. Cultures traditions and religions which consider women too be sacred. Where women were proud to be women.

So if you feel you truly need a religion to feel safe and happy, why not switch to one where women are given the rights and respect they are entitled to?
Why cling to ”traditions” which are an abomination if you compare them with the older traditions humanity held for tens of thousands of years before these modern misogynist religions poisoned our world?
Instead of having a woman’s day where every year an endless row of crimes, abuses, rapes, atrocities committed against women and children are renumerated ad infinitum, why not work towards a world where women’s day is what it should be? A day , where womanhood and femininity are celebrated, revered and enjoyed!

Ok, this took a bit longer as expected! We worked almost around the clock for four days, I then drove my (new!) trailer home, late at night, and the next day I put new ligvhts on the front, and new doorhandles. We changed the door from the right to the left, much better. Now I can jump out of my car and with three steps I am with my horse. But that also meant the handles were the wrong way around. So I brought new handles. I also changed the frontwheel, and I made a new cover for the back.

This took me two days more, and then oon Friday I packed all my stuff, my dog and my horse, and took off for the Sidesaddle Weekend!

So here is the demolishing and rebuilding of my trailer! I am now the proud and happy owner of a (nearly) new trailer!
And the Tarq had better appreciate it because it was built with blood, sweat and tears!

J is drilling out the many, many, many bolts which hold the fiberglass top. That was really awful! They were very hard to drill out, and there remained some remnants which were very difficult to remove.

But we got them out, and together we romoved the top! Very carefully we stored it ouside in a safe place so it would nog get damaged. The fenders have been dislodged from the walls, and the door has been taken off too.

More finnicky stuff which need to be removed. More bolts…

Demolishing with zest!

Demolishing is fun!

Not much left at the end of the day. Maybe we should leave it like this… Nice and airy….

J is measuring the door panel.

All pieces are cut to shape. I did that outside. Brrrrr…. i spend the whole day in the freezing snowing outside! An extra snag was provided by the wooden panels which turned out to bee 3 mm too thick and did not fit the metal profiles. And I went with my trailer to a trailer builder to make sure I got the right thickness! Yeah right….
This is where the tears came in. As we had allready shed our blood over the demolishing part. When the panels turned out to be way too thick I had to sniff a bit. The only option was a special machine to cut the edges, but we didn’t have one. A neighbour didn’t have one either, but he did have a shaver, which could be used to do the trick. Took a lot od time though. It was difficult.
And not perfect. I don’t like it when things aren’t perfect…
Well, at least we could now put the thing together again.

It took three of us to get the top back in place… It was getting to be a real trailer again!

These side-struts are essential to keep the walls from bulging out.

Putting the little door back in took me a whole half day to get it perfect!

J putting screws in to attach the top. W propped it up so it was at the perfect angle and all the holes lined up.

My new trailer back home! The doorhandles are still the wrong way around, and the old frontwheel is still in place. I will have to make a new photo tomorrow!

I am preparing for my ”Ladies sidesaddle weekend” another fun weekend with my friends and this time we are going to be taught in sidesaddle riding. And when we are not having lessons we hope the weather will be good enough for our usual sport of dashing at mad-speeds through the forest!!!

But if the freezing weather holds, (and it’s next weekend!) we will have to resign and behave as ladies all the time instead of half the time as we planned….

Anyway, there’s going to be no fun for me if I can’t get my trailer fixed. I have a great trailer, I brought it with my savings many years ago and it was allready old then. In the years it is mine I have repainted it, replaced the pulling thingy, made a new floor, and replaced the axels, and now the walls have become so rotten that if I don’t replace them is ”Adios trailer”!

My trailer

The holes in the walls:

.

In the summer all kinds of interesting musrooms and toadstools grow on the rotten wood…

I painted the rotten parts whitish to make them less noticeble from a distance. But some parts you can stick your finger through!!!

But this is a really huge job! Not just the job, but the taking apart of the trailer! The fiberglass hood is attached in a very bizarre and complicated manner and it took us quit a while to find out how. Also there are so many Screws and bolts to take off, and they are all rusted and rotten and fixed together with all the rust. Also they tend to swivel around because most of the wood is rotten!

The screws and bolts, which ones belong where and how many we need

I was not really sure I could ever do it, so i was thrilled when my friend J offered me to stay the weekend and I could use her barn and she would help me take the thing apart and rebuilt it!

My hands hurt with the cuts and abrasions, and my back aches, but at last! late at night we figured out how to get the hood off! Without J’s help I would never have managed to get this far! (Which isn’t far at all)
Here you see J cutting through one of the bolts we couldn’t get out so we have to destroy it to remove it.

The attachment of the hood, There must be a weld between the folded strip and the U-profile on the inside. Here you can see it after we bend it to open, so we could loosen the fiberglass hood. If the fiberglass cracks I can throw the remains on my trailer on the dump!!! It’s a stupid construction: it holds a lot of water. I was hell to drill out the 45 special bolts!!! J did most of them!

So tomorrow we will remove the hood very carefully, and store it in a safe place. Then we will try to see how to remuve the metal strips and get the wooden panels out. Hopefully in one piece so we can use them as a template to cut the new oned. I brought the special plates yesterday. We need to do two big walls, to small ones, and one narrow strip in the front. We plan to do one piece at a time so as not to make the whole thing fall apart.
We think that putting the trailer back together might actually be a lot less work as taking it apart! We still aren’t quite sure if we will succeed.
In case the suspence is killing you, I will continue the Saga of the Trailer tomorrow!